Bloomberg reported that U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, while criticizing the positions of the Islamic Republic in negotiations to end the war, said that Tehran’s demands so far have been unacceptable and, in some cases, “shocking and ridiculous.”

Rubio also, in defending the approach of Donald Trump, the U.S. president, toward the Islamic Republic, said that Trump was not elected to ignore the threat from Iran and pass the response to it on to the next president.

He emphasized that ignoring the threat and leaving it to the next administration was the easiest way, but that Trump confronted this threat to ensure the security of American citizens—not to secure his own personal interests.